The "Butterfly's Whisper" Blog

Welcome to my blog. I hope by sharing my own misophonia experiences, others who are frustrated with misophonia sensitivities will discover that they're not alone. I also hope that people who may not have misophonia will gain some insight about what it's like to have this condition. Please feel free to post any comments or use the "Contact Us" page if you have any questions/comments you don't want to post online.

Happy holidays, everyone. For those of you who might not get my modification of the Wizard of Oz quote, Tooki is the name of my cockatiel and after driving around for an hour and a half this afternoon looking for a Chinese food restaurant where this Jewish gal could get a yummy Xmas meal, I finally found ONE restaurant (other than Perkins) that was open today. Mind you, when I first moved here two years ago, I was completely floored by how EVERYTHING was closed on Christmas (even the stores/restaurants that typically are open in the major metropolitan cities on the east coast.) This year I thought I had a good plan in that I would try to go to restaurants in hotels for my Xmas evening meal. No such luck. They were all closed and the only hotel eateries that were open were the bar areas, but even they closed at 5 p.m. Luckily, I remembered that the sushi place I normally visit once a week for their specials was supposed to be open, so here I am... Finishing off a special sushi roll, thankful I didn't have to resort to breaking into my canned soup stash (which I keep in case of a weather emergency.)

This time of the year is typically not easy for me, but this year was especially hard after the crappy (and inaccurate) performance review I got this year. (I've been trying very hard to write a rebuttal letter, but it's difficult to write it in a professional tone when all I want to do is tell them off about how unjustified their comments are... As I mentioned in a previous post, I will not spend time on this blog venting about how obnoxious and biased the feedback was so let me move onto more productive topics.)

Yesterday, I received an email from the moderator of the misophonia.com website (which I'm sure he sent to all the subscribers of that site.) I found his words very timely and encouraging, especially since it was clear he understood that this time of the year is especially difficult for people with misophonia. He gave some wonderful words of wisdom for how to not let the holidays get to you, and although I emailed him hoping that he'd put the letter on the website for me to give you all a link to read directly, I haven't received any response from him yet. (I'm not surprised or offended though. It is the Christmas holiday so I'm sure people are with their families or have other things on their mind.) In general, he suggested that we find outlets that help us relax and de-stress, whether through meditation, breathing techniques, or other ways to bring a smile to our faces. (Lately for me, I've been coming home and putting on my fireplace, lighting some scented candles, drinking some herbal tea or even some sake - if it's been an especially difficult day.) I didn't want to include his letter here without his permission but he did include a link to a post on his website asking people to contribute their solutions for how they deal with the holidays. If you want to read some of the posts, or contribute ideas of your own, click here...

Other than that, this morning I realized one type of non-sound triggers that are accentuated during this time of the year: my tactile ones. Yesterday, the high temperature out here was -17 degrees Fahrenheit, and that was even without the wind chill. Wintertime is especially difficult for my tactile triggers because my hands are much drier than usual, so I wind up being bothered by touch sensations - even the ones that don't normally bother me. I have to keep a bottle of hand lotion within reach at all times otherwise I'd drive myself nuts with tactile triggers. I can't even put on my favorite gloves anymore without slathering my hands with lots of hand lotion first. Oh well. It just makes me look that much more forward for spring to come my way.

Merry Xmas and happy holidays to all. May your new year be happy and trigger-free!

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About the Author

Emlyn Altman has been suffering with misophonia for over 30 years, even though she only found out about the actual medical condition much more recently. As frustrating as the condition has been over the years, her heightened sensitivities across all the senses considerably influenced her talents within the visual fine arts (particularly sculpture), music (singing, piano, and many other instruments), writing, and culinary backgrounds, as well as professional achievements as an architectural lighting designer. Her goal in developing this website is to promote more awareness about misophonia and help other sufferers as well.